Enjoying the Afternoon

I have to say that I'm loving our yard right now. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a neat and tidy landscaped yard. But it works for us. The boys love the dirt and mud alongside the scoot bike track (as well as the track itself). I love the way it looks compared to when we moved in... no lower deck, no shed in the middle taking up space, no manky dog run, no wood pile, no ivy (well at least a lot less), and generally a lot less 'ick' and a lot more enjoyable space. And what is also fun is dreaming up the next projects... but that's for another day.

There is something magical about working in the garden. Today was the first glorious sunny day we've had in a while. And it was wonderful to finally be able to work in the garden for an extended period of time and have the boys be entertained on the "kid" side of our yard. It is (and I believe will continue forever to be) amazing how you can take a little plot of land that is just weeds and turn it into beautiful plants you can eat (or otherwise enjoy). I love watching the development of everything. How big is the broccoli today? Are there any caterpillars to be captured? How is the lettuce coming along? Any slugs? It is just fun to watch things grow. (It is fun to watch people grow too... both my children and anyone who learns their way through a challenge.)

But more than just making wandering observations or throwing together a cool, homegrown salad, I LOVE watching the pleasure with which Graeme and Gavin pick and eat the veggies and berries we have.

Granted, they don't always pick the right things or at the right time, but I'm trying to let that go and just enjoy their happiness. So fun. Graeme eats the green raspberries and, as of yet, it doesn't seem to bother his system, if you know what I mean. He says, "Pick raspberries! Pick raspberries!" and now will always walk up the little hill to check out what he can reach.

For the sake of efficiency (and a little selfishness since it really is fun), I try to pick the majority of stuff myself. Otherwise, we would have nothing left in the ground and very thin carrots in our salads. Graeme also yelled across the yard to day, "Pick weed, Mummy!" and you could tell he was SO proud of himself for helping to pick weeds. It was so sweet! He also continued that helping as he picked out a few of my cosmos, declared them "weed" and then "ho'd" them to the ground. (They had not yet bloomed, of course, so it was an honest mistake.)

[For the record: Tonight we had a salad with lettuce, radishes, raspberries, strawberries, and peas from our yard. How cool. That will always be cool to me.]